Stories about the decisions of Cabinets are seldom trust- worthy,
but we note with regret the wide prevalence of a rumour that the Government has decided against a large scheme for the conversion of Irish farms into freeholds. The scheme to be produced will be a considerable extension of the Ashbourne Act, and sale to the tenantry will be entirely voluntary. We hope, if this rumour has any foundation, that it is not too late even yet to reconsider the effect of an imper- fect measure. The scheme will probably conciliate English opinion, which approves of gradual reforms, and is to an unintelligible degree startled by the mention of large figures; but it will not remove agrarian discontent. It is open, too, to Mr. T. W. Russell's objection that the landlords who have been paid regularly are the landlords who do not want to sell, and that, consequently, the more honest a tenant has been, the less will he benefit by the Ashbourne Act. We cannot con- ceive the answer to that argument, and shall regret, too, the total absence of dramatic effect in the Bill. English- men are not impressed by such effects, but Irishmen are. As yet, however, the discussion is based on rumour only.
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